Mark di Suvero

Internationally-recognized sculptor Mark di Suvero introduced four large-scale works in steel into the landscape at Laumeier Sculpture Park in October, 2003. The Mark di Suvero exhibition, titled Dragons in the Sky, opened to the public on October 4, 2003. A fifth work is installed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The gallery exhibition of drawings, prints and small sculptures by di Suvero continued through January 11, 2004 and the outdoor works will remain at the Laumeier on extended loan.

The title of di Suvero’s exhibition, Dragons in the Sky, references an essay of the same name written by Jan Castro, local author and poet, for Laumeier's exhibition catalog. Mark di Suvero loved the title. If we think of the dragon as the legendary reptilian monster with wings, huge claws, and a fiery breath, di Suvero's outdoor sculptures are great works of art that through a child's eye appear to be dragons in the sky. The dragon, the national emblem of the Chinese Empire, is traditionally regarded as a symbol of good fortune. The sculptures certainly symbolize Laumeier's good fortune at Mark di Suvero's return to Laumeier!

The origins of the five sculptures reflect the diversity and world view of the artist, who currently lives and works in New York City. Di Suvero divides his time between studios in Petaluma, California; Chalon-sur-Saone, France and his studio in New York, a former brickyard on the edge of the East River in Long Island. Old Buddy and Beppe were constructed in California; Bornibus and Tumbleweed in France; and Destino in New York. Di Suvero moved to France in 1973 and was the first living artist to exhibit at Jardin des Tuileries, Paris. He co-founded La Vie des Formes in Chalon-sur-Saône, a floating canal-barge studio for visiting artists, in 1988.

Di Suvero was one of the first contemporary sculptors to bring the drama of industrial building materials and salvage, assembled into monumental sculptures, to the art world and, in 1977, to the newly-opened Laumeier Sculpture Park. Wayne Kennedy, then director of St. Louis County Parks and Recreation, was on site when the artist loaned two sculptures to the park through the Oil and Steel Gallery, New York, with the assistance of the Aronson family. One of the sculptures, Ming II, 1973, composed of bell-like pieces suspended by a cable, inviting the spectator to push its movable parts, was exhibited at Laumeier from 1977 through 1989. Mark di Suvero's XV, 1971, refers to the shapes of the joined I-beams not the Roman numeral fifteen, and was designed in the way di Suvero usually works - the pieces experimentally positioned by a crane and then secured, rather than being developed from a study model. XV was on long-term loan to Laumeier from 1977 until 2003, until it was returned to make room for Tumbleweed, 1985-87—part of the Dragons in the Sky exhibition.

Mark di Suvero was born in Shanghai, China, where his parents were in the Italian diplomatic service. His family moved to the United States at the outbreak of World War II. This experience with war first-hand, and continued travel abroad, has made him a socially and politically aware artist. Di Suvero's creation of Socrates Sculpture Park, as well as foundations dedicated to supporting art and artists in need, demonstrate his passion for art and life.

Mark di Suvero has exhibited internationally since the 1960s and has works in the collections of major museums around the world. In 1975, he was the first contemporary American artist to exhibit at the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, an unprecedented honor. His retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art that same year, with sculptures installed in all five New York boroughs, was a major feat that excited the art world internationally.

Di Suvero received the 2000 Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award presented by the International Sculpture Center "to recognize individual sculptors who have made exemplary contributions to the field of sculpture. Candidates for the award are masters of sculptural processes and techniques who have devoted their careers to the development of a laudable body of sculptural work as well as to the advancement of the sculpture field as a whole." – ISC

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Mark di Suvero: DRAGONS IN THE SKY